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THE BAPTIST BANNED
- BY JAS. N. ELLS & CO.
'VOL. IV.
DEVOTED TO RELIGION AND LITERATURE,
Is published every Saturday, at Atlanta, Georgia, at the
subscription price of three dollars per year.
JAMES N. ELLS & CO.,
Proprietors.
—
“REPOSE IN JESUS.”
Repose in Jesus! O, how sweet
To find repose at Jesus’ feet;
To feel the weary conflict past,
And faith’s sure refuge gained at last.
Repose in Jesus! ’tie to sink,
Submissively, though on ruin’s brink ;
And from the shadows of the grave
To cry, “ I perish —Jesus, save. ’
* Repose in Jesus! ’tis to give
Our all to Him, believe and live;
Then feel our weakness, hour by hour,
Sustained by His almighty power.
Repose in Jesus ! ’tis Ilis voice
Bidding our inmost hearts rejoice,
Assuring us the work is done,
X And God receives us through the Son.
Reposain Jesus! ’tis to know
No will but His, while here below;
This is life’s mission tully done,
This is eternal rest begun.
Oh, perfect, peaceful, calm repose,
The heart th it feels it only knows
What confidence, what trust, what bliss,
There is in such repose as this.
[A series of Sermons by Elder J. M. Wood, Pastor
of the Newnan Baptist Church— published in a
condensed form by special request.]
Wo. I.—Regeneration.
“ Marvel not that T said unto thee, Ye must be born
again.”— John iii: 7.
Nicodemus, though he was a ruler among
the. Jews, probably for fear of the Jews,
came to Jesus by night to inquire of his
doctrine. The Saviour commenced with
the very foundation doctrine of Salvation,
for without it there is no salvation.
The Greek word, translated Lorn, is
■pwiiOipat, which is from yevvaw, which
means to engender, produce, beget. The
word translated again, is a>wOev, and means
from above. IV must be begotten from
above, or ye ran not perceive nor enter into
* the kingdom of God. Let us then consider :
1. The necessity of regeneration.
This will appear when we consider—lst,
That man has lost his estate. In his pri
meval state he was holy, innocent and up
right. lie enjoyed the presence, favor and
coinmunii.n with the infinitely holy God. |
There was given him but one restraint, one 11
law. All the balance were privileges.—
Earth and its creatures were adapted to his
happiness and subject to his commands.—
This one /aw he violated, and lost his puri
ty, and became guilty, depraved, a wander
er, an alien—became a runaway, and hid j
himself for shame. Ilis great sin made,
him unlike God. • It was therefore needful I
that he be changed back again, or he could !
not enjoy God's presence, nor inhabit Ilis
kingdom. The runaway must be brought
back —his nature, his heart changed to ena
4ble him to enjoy the provisions of the king
dom of grace.
D . I
2. Ilis whole history shows this m'cessi-j
ty. The wickedness of earth, the blood
shed and wars which have cursed the world, i
are not the work of devils, but of fallen I
men. To steal, to lie, to slander, to rob,
to murder, are characteristic actions of ren 1
egades, the depraved, vagabonds. Yet 1
these things are done by Adam’s descen-1 1
dants.
Laws, penalties, prisons, and impliments ’
of punishment, have not been originated for'*
demons, but for our apostate race—the 1
workers of iniquity. True, all may not be?
outspoken and out acting in these respects; j"
but the refinement, polish and gaudiness of 1 '
our sins will not excuse us in the sight of !
God, nor relieve us ot the absolute necessi
ty of a change of heart. The history of
men show them desperately depraved be
vond all question. The difficulties of Busi i
ness transactions, unfaithfulness among
neighbors, the cravings after gain, and the
general want of honesty, are illustrations of
it. He has studied men in vain who can
not endorse the prophet’s saying, “The
heart is deceitful above all things, and des
peratelv wicked; and who can know it ?” ;
It r quires a new heart to act above the in-:
fluences of the world—to do as the Virginia
farmer, who always gave heaping measure,
I because he would cheat no man. The nat
ural heart is too much inclined to scoop in
stead of heap up —to tip the beams of the
sc des the wrong way for honesty. To run
a line between claimants satisfactorily is
almost impossible, especially it the laird is
rich, and often requires a third party to de
a Bsuaiocs ®AMMa.x sawsßAßßa.
jcide the correctness of the compass. Yet a
new heart man needs, to bring him back to
God and make the runaway feel at home in
Ilis presence.
11. The nature of regeneration.
It is a change of heart which includes the
affections and dispositions. That were a
worthless change which should leave a man
just as he was before, with all his original
tendencies and dispositions to sin, loving
the same things and seeking the same en
joyments. Indeed, this would be an absur
dity. To be born from above seems to
him new affections, new tempers, new dis
positions. “If any man be born in Christ,
he is a new creature, old things are passed
away ; behold, all things are become new.”
2. It produces a change of conduct. This
could not be otherwise; so that he, who
claims to. be a Christian while his conduct
remains as formerly, may know he is not
begotten from above. There goes the heart,
claiming to have been changed to a lamb,
whith his claws and tusks, roaring as loud
as other lions, and is quite as ready to de
vour. His old nature remains, as mani
fested by his conduct. And there is the
animal clothed with a sheep’s skin, exhibit
ing a fair exterior; and yet he howls, eats
flesh and drinks blood as a wolf. lie neith
er bleats nor loves to roam in green pas
tures and beside the still waters. Put an
unchanged man into God’s earthly king
dom, and he will show by his conduct that
he is like the wolf in a cage. lie rushes
from side to side in restless uneasiness.—
W hat would you think of a man, once a
thief, a profane swearer, a gambler, profess
ing now a change of heart, and yet steals,
swears and gambles as formerly ? The sin
ner’s condition is not improved by giving
him a new heart, if his conduct, dispositions,
hopes and aspirations remain the same.—
He certainly is a stranger to the proposi
tions “that what he once loved he now hates,
and what he hated he now loves.” There
is a deep meaning in the expression, to be
born again. He who can truthfully claim
the grace, will manifest it by it change of
conduct. The alien comes back, the vaga
bond is dressed in new clothes, clean and
white. He loves his once forsaken God—
loves His people, loves His cause. Prop
erly, God’s kingdom is not to be cursed
with bad conduct, profanity, stealing, lying,
adultery, dishonesty. If so there can be no
real difference between it and the kingdom
of Satan.
111. w this change is wrought.
1. This is done by the direct agency of
'God, the Holy Spirit. The Saviour taught
i that, “ except a man be born of water and
i of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the king
dom of God. That which is born of the
Spirit, is Spirit.” “ But as many as re
ceived Him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God, even to them that
I believe on Ilis name; who were born not
'of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God.” Man is pas
sive in this. He can not re-create himself,
nor can he h«*lj» God renew him. What
would you think of a watch) whose machi
nery was topsy-turvy, all to pieces, essaying
to help the workman to re-arrange its inte
rior, or to do it of itself? What of the
leopard trying to change his spots, or the
Ethiopian his skin? The reason why there
are such good results from the new birth,
is because God does the work, securing to
him a likeness of his own image in Christ
Jesus, and implanting within him princi
ples inclining him to do right, though it
were possible for God to be blotted from
existence and no man could behold his con
duct.
2. \ et the change is wrought by the use
iof God's word, “ Os his own w ill begat he
us with the word of truth”—James 1, 18.
“Being born again, not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible, by the word of God,
which liveth and abideth forever”—l Pe.
il, 23. God’s word reveals the Savior, the
whole plan of salvation, is sharper than a
two-edged sword to the dividing asunder'
lof joint and marrow, of soul and spirit, and ,
iis a discerner ot the thoughts and intents)
of the heart. W ithout it then' is no sal-1
vat ion. The particular manner of this mys
terious operation the Saviour does not ex
plain, perhaps because to man it is inexpli
cable. The wind blows where it pleases,
and though we cannot tell w here it conies
from, nor where it goes to, yet we can hear
the sound: so is he who is born of the'
• spirit. I
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 1863.
HIS BANNER OVER US IS LOVE.
IV. Consequences.
1. We can see, perceive, appreciate the
kingdom of God and enter into it. Blind
by nature, this precious work opens our
eyes to see the beauties of the -blessed
kingdom. Dispositions are given us in
harmony with its government and with
him who governs. Desires are implanted
to inhabit the lovely places which God has
chosen as his own.
2. The privileges and immunities of that
kingdom in this world and the world to
come : To be under the reign of grace, to
be a child of God, to call God’s children
brethren, to be one of the King’s family, to
enjoy the refreshings and luxuries of his
house in this woild are no common bles
sings. But to enter into the heavenly king
dom, with all its unspeakable joys and pos
sess its ineffable pleasures, surpasses our
present conceptions of glory. Those who
are truly born again are not bastards, but
sons, and hence heirs of all that pertains to
his kingdom.
\ . Bailing in this we are doomed wretches.
We can neither see nor enter into
God’s kingdom. We must go down
to hell with all our native depravity and
increased corruption, on account of practi
cal transgressions. Whatever may be the
condition of the thief who was upon the
cross by the Saviour’s side, whatever the
condition of the-.chief of sinners who perse
cuted the Church of God, there is no hope
for him who dies unregenerate. The child
of sorrow in this world may yet find com
fort; the heir of affliction, poverty and
wretchedness, may go from his obscure log
cabin home to the palace of God’s king
dom, while he who is clothed in purple and
fine linen, faring sumptuously every day,
may go down to hell. For him there is
no relief, no mitigation, whether he is mo
rally depraved or naturally depraved,
(according to the distinctions recently
drawn in the columns of a religious paper,)
or both ; being unchanged, he is hopelessly
lost. Ye must be born again.
EXTORTION,—Nt. 2.
DIFFICULTIES OF THE SUBJECT.
That respectable professors of religion
are guilty of extortion, is a sign that there
must be difficulties in the subject; not dif
ficulties great enough necessarily to ex. use
the crime, but great enough to conceal it,
great enough to enable the extortioner,
tempted by avarice, to reason plausibly in
his own justification; and while they do
not prevent the instincts of the people from
laying hold of his crime, they do prevent
them frow showing it in that clear light, '
and from pressing it ith those overwhelm
ing demonstrations that would make it en
tirely impossible for a good man to perse
vere in the iniquity.
1. The first of these is, that extortion is
enforced by the law of the land.
It is hard often to convict of crime, even j
when it is illegal. A shrewd lawyer may \
throw doubt on a case, even when it is theft
or assassination. But an extortioner charges
rates that the law will enforce. He is w ith
the law all through his transaction ; and
our habits are such necessarily from the re
spect that is due to law, that when a thing
is legal, it is difficult to impeach it of ini-i
quity.
2. Second, not only is extortion often le-|
gal, but it is by the free consent of the pur- :
chaser. Men’s consciences are sometimes
not nice enough to discover that a thing
may be actually fraudulent, even though it
may be invited by the strongest solicita
tions of the victim. And therefore, when
the public come eager to be served, and are
actually bidding against each other for the
commodities they need, all moral natures
are not strong enough to see that this, to a
greater or less extent, is true of every ex
tortioner. It does not consist in forcing >
men out of their means, but whether we call
it speculation or forestalling, or in whatev
er way parties who wish to shift the 'culpa-
| bility pass the term from one act to anoth
er, the element of willingness attaches to
I all of them. Any extortion that is not will
ing on the part of the sufferer, is robbery,
. ami that, in so unfigurative sense, a— to briny
it easily within the reach of another than a
mere popular tribunal.
3. Another difficulty attending the iin
peaehment of extortion is. that it is carried
on most effectively by them who are merely
j continuing their old rule of business.
A baker in a besieged city, who had a
monopoly of flour, might merely go on to
sell at the highest bid, whatever that might
be, and yet the people would soon bring it
about his ears, that whavever might have
been the style of his ancient practice, he
would have to change it. A vast majority
of our citizens have changed their practice,
and are not selling for all they could get;
that is to say, where the commodity is af
fected by extremely artificial causes on ac
count of our besieged condition; while the
few who are going on to ask the very most,
are either the unscrupulous or a few' strong
ly tempted among the respectable, who are
going on to ask the most on this plea of old
rules, or established practices of business.
4. A still more serious difficulty lies in
the promiscuous way in which instances of
high price are confusedly thrown together.—
Some high prices are necessary, and are
therefore innocent. In fact the vast major
ity of high prices are not only entirely ne
cessary, and perfetly justifiable, and spring
ing from occasions that always lead to such
things, and that innoceuly and most inevi
tably under like circumstances of the case,
but are really some of the hardest high pri
ces to beat, and have most of the appear
ance of extortion, as far as concerns the
grinding they occasion the people. It will
be a purpose of these papers to distinguish
these from the smaller number of cases,
viz: those of actual crime. Meanwhile we
see at a glance what a cover they make for
the offender, and how, being in such large
company and seeming simply to be arraign
ed on the ground of distressing the people,
the culprits ward off by the arguhients
that belong to these others, and many a
charitable reasoner is convinced by seeing
that we can not condemn the whole mass of
high-priced dealers in a time like this, and
by failing to discriminate the large class
from the small.
5. That this small class are, a few of
them, good people, is a snare in this question.
A good man here and there is an immense
press in this crime.
In the first place, the professor of reli
gion is entrapped by the plausible difficul
ties that he finds in the question, and then
he becomes a trap to other men.
A singular instance of how high morality
may deceive, itself in these important mat
ters, was seen in the Pharisees. They
were not the culprits we think them. One
would not like to say that they were as
good as the best of our people. But there
was this about them : They were thought
,to be the best men of their time. Their
i nation was the only nation that had any
j religion, and they were thought to be the
best men of their nation. Paul’s* father
must have been an excellent sort of citizen.
He chose a religious education for his son,
and sent him at the age of fourteen on a
b* n S journey to the feet of Gamaliel. Ga
i maliel was thought to be a son of the aged
| Simeon. And Paul himself, as the fruit of
, the labor of his teacher “concerning the j
righteousness of the law,” said that he was
i “ blameless.”’ The Pharisees must have
, been a most respectable moral class. And
j when Jesus begins to portray their iniqui
ty, he does it with rough language it is
| true, but with intimations all through the
narrative that the mass of moral preten
sion, and even in that Augustan age, of
high well-sustained moral reputation, was
with the sect of that young ruler, for exam
ple in respect to whom it is declared that
“Jesus beholding him, loved him.”
And yet so easy is it, as we have seen,
by the force of certain great natural diffi
culties, to hood-wink the people in respect
to crime, that no sooner had our Saviour:
brought to bear upon this elevated class'
the eye of an omniscient in vessigation, than
He unmasks them at once, and charges
i them as to the very thing that they had
found it easy to conceal, with this great
I crime of extortion among the people. W e
know not what it is, at that ancient date,
that gave facility for the crime in the state
of the country. It may have been the same i
thing that Paul was providing against, when I
he took up collections for the “poor saints.
But this one thing is evident, that when
our Saviour said to men who loved “greet
ings in the markets,” that they devoured
•• widows’ houses,” He was not speaking of,
anything very evident, but of something
that a proud Pharisee might do at the very
1 time that he he was welcomed in the streets
> by the smiles of approval among the citi
zens. One stood in the temple and pray
ed, “ Lord, I thank thee that I am not as
other men are,” and as though to show
how completely extortion may be hidden
from itself, singling out from all others the
very crime with which Christ had charged
them, he adds, “ Extortioners T
And another feature of the likeness is,
that these men try to make up by alms
giving what they extort by unreasonable
rates. A favorite argument in some com
munities has been, let the manufacturers
relieve by charity rather than by the more
indiscriminate plan of abandoning his
rates. We mean to return to this subject.
In other words—Let a man, altogether be
neath me in generosity and spirit, humble
my family, while I am in the wars, by of
fering them charity (a form of relief which,
if they are high-spirited people, they will
not take), and let him consider’that, as an
offset to what they would accept, viz : some
little decent attention to the equities of
their case, and to their right, while sacrifi
cing for liberty, to escape the pang of such 1
enormous remuneration.
Not to reason the point now, however — <
how singular the ancient likeness! The :
Pharisees “tithed mint, and anise and cum- i
min.” And though the Bible said they
were “full of extortion and excess,” yet
they managed to enjoy almost an ovation <
of morality, and that largely on the help
of alms giving. They “ sounded a trumpet
before them” when they distributed their
gifts, and were able to say, (no doubt, with
vast extenuations, also, of their acts) like (
the one in the temple, “ Lord, we thank
thee that we are not as other men are —
Extortioners;” and then bring up (with a
completeness that almost makes us trem
ble) over the lapse of centuries this family ,
picture—“ We pay tithes of all we pos
sess.”
it is time, however, to .advance to what ’
the public have a right to demand, viz:
distinct definition. If extortion be such an
outrageous evil, no doubt, in spite of all
the difficulties that one can state, it must
be capable of some sort of extended expo
sition. And to arrive at this, it will be in
quired in the next paper w//«Z extortion is
not, and in the fourth what extortion is, and
in the fifth it may be possible to reply to
objections. People, who are the sufferers
under these unjustifiable rates, are looked
down upon by the authors of their trouble,
and treated with a sort of philosophic pity,
under the idea that they wince naturally
under the pressures of the period, but that
•no sane man can be long in arriving at the
fact that the laws ot trade must have room
for their course, and that precisely in the
way of these enormous accumulations.
Alamby.
Recognition of Friends in Heaven.
(continued.)
The universality of the belief that we
! shall possess a reciprocal knowledge of each
other hereafter is strong presumptive evi
dence of its correctness. It is almost as
wide spread as the belief in the immortality
of the soul, a future state, or in an all-con
trolling Creator. And this belief is not
alone confined to the unlettered multitude.
Some of the most illustrious and revered of
the Church fathers have left on record their
belief in this doctrine. We shall incur the
risk of being tedious, by transcribing a few ’
extracts from the memorials which some of
them have left on the subject:
I Cyprian, in the third century, speaks:
thus: “ Who, finding himself in a strange
country, does not earnestly desire to return ■
to his fatherland ? Who, about to sail in i
haste for his home ami his friends across the
sea, does not long for a friendly wind, that
j he mav the sooner throw his arms around I
his beloved ones? We believe Paradise
to be our fatherland ; our parents are pa
triarchs; why should we not haste and fly •
to see our home and greet our parents? A
host, of beloved friends await us there ; a <
‘numerous and va ious crowd—parents, ]
brethren, children, who are secure in a
blessed immortality, and only concerned i
for us. are looking w ith desire*for our arri- I
val. To see and embrace these—what a .
mutual joy will it be to us and them ! What i
: bliss, without fear of death, to live eternally ;
in the heavenly kingdom! How vast, and
of eternal duration, is our celestial blessed
ness ! There is the glorious choir of the I
Apostles; there the host of joyful prophets; I
’.here the innumerable company of the mar- I
’yrs, crowned on account of their victories I
in the conflict of suffering. There; in tri- I
umnh, are the pure virgins. There, ’the I
merciful, who have fed and blessed the i
poor,and according to their Lord’s direction,! i
TERMS— Three Dollars a-year.
have exchanged earthly for heavenly trea
sures, now receive their glorious reward.
To these, dearly beloved brethren, let us
hasten, with strong desire, and ardently
wish soon to be with them and with Christ.
In the fourth century, Chrysostom says :y
“If we hear him (Paul) here, we shall cer
tainly see him hereafter; if not as standing
near him, yet see him we certainly shall,
glistening near the throne of Ahe King?’
Where the Cherubim sing in glory, where
the Seraphim are flying, there shall we see
Paul, with Peter, both as a chief and leader
of the choir of the saints, and shall enjoy
his generous love.”
Luther, the eveuing before his death, be
ing asked what he thought on this point,
remarked as follows: “ How did Adam
do ? He had never in his life seen Eve—
he lay and slept—yet, when he awoke, he
didnotsay, ‘Whence came you? who are
you?’ but he said, ‘This is now bone of
my bone, and flesh of my flesh.’ How did
he know that this woman did not spring
forth from a stone ? He knew it because
he was full of the Holy Spirit, and in pos
session of the true knowledge of God. Into
this knowledge and image, we shall, in the
future life, again be renewed in Christ; so
that we shall know father, mother, and one
another, on sight, better than did Adam and
Eve.” •
Zwingle, the Swiss reformer, observes :
“ There you may hope to see the society,
the assembly, and the dwelling together of
all the holy, wise, faithful, heroic, firm, and
virtuous, who have lived since the begin-’
ning of the world. There you shall see the
two Adams, the Savior and the saved.
There you will see Abel, Enoch, Noah,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Moses,
Joshua, Gideon, Samuel, Phineas, Elijah,
Elisha, Isaiah, and the mother of God of
whom he has prophecied. There you will
see David, Hezekiah, Josiah, John the Bap
tist, Peter, Paul, &c. There you will see
yours who have gone before you, and all
your forefathers who have departed this
life in the faith. In a no virtuous
person, no holy mind, no believing soul has
lived from the beginning of the world, or
shall yet live, that you shall not there meet
with God.”
The pious Baxter thus descants on the
joy of becoming “ fellow-citizens with the
saints and of the household of God : ” “If
the forethought of sitting down with Abra
ham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom
of heaven, tnay be our lawful joy, how
much more the real sight and actual pos
session ! It cannot but be comfortable to
think of that day, when we shall join with
Moses in his song, with David in his Psalms
of praise, and with all the redeemed in the
song of the Lamb forever ; when we shall
sqe Enoch walking with God ; Noah enjoy
ing the end of his singularity; Joseph of
his integrity ; Job of his patience ; Heze
kiah of his uprightness; and all the saints
the end of their faith. Not only our old
acquaintance, but all the saints of alt ages,
whose faces in the flesh we never saw, we
shall there both know and comfortably en
joy. Yea, angels as well as saints will be
our blessed acquaintance.” O
John Eliot, usually called the “Apostle
of the Indians,” several months before his
death, would often say that he was shortly
going to heaven, and that he would carry a
deal of good news thither with him ; he
said he would carry tidings to the old foun
ders of New England, who were now in
glory, that church-work was yet carried on
among us; that the number of our churches
was continually increasing; and that the
churches were still kept as big-as they were,
by the daily additions of those who shall
be saved.”
“ Shall 1 know you in heaven ? ” said an
enquiring red man to John Eliot himself.
The old chief Shenandoah wished to be
buried beside his religious teacher, that at
the resurrection he might go up with him.
That Choctaw was but recently a living
1 officer of the church, who wished a minis
iterial visitor to turn round that he might
have a full view of his face, so as to know
him again in heaven.
“I want to go to heaven,” said Dr. Em
mons in his obi age; “It is an inexpressi
bly glorious place. The more I think of it
the more delightful it appears. And I
want to see who is there; I want to see
brother Sandford, and brother Miles, and
brother Spring, and Dr. Hopkins, and Dr.
West, and a great many other ministers,
with whom 1 have been associated in this
world, but who have gone before me. 1
believe I shall meet them in heaven, and it
seems to me, our meeting there -must be
peculiarly interesting.” He- added, “I
want to see too the old prophets, and the
apostles. What a sooiety there will be in
heaven! There we shall see such men as
Moses, and Isaiah, and Elijah, and David,
and Paul : I want to see Paul more thai
any man I can think of.”
Thus thought and wrote the good men of
by-gone ages, whose souls are now, we be
lieve, encircled in the bonds of Christian
fellowship with those whom they so ardent
ly longed to see and know. And we be
lieve that, consistent with reason and reve
lation, we may take up the same strain of
hope and joyful anticipation and apply it
not only to patriar h and prophet, apostle
and bishop, but to tlfe good of every age,
NO. 20.
